Hammering feet, hammering heart
Her maddening dash t'was at the start
Fightful leanings of monsters dire
She fights for life's very fire
With hazy breath, beneath jungles cowl
Aleha dashes from beasts most foul
Their roars echo through leaf and tree
Unknown pursuers, she cannot see
They gain but slowly, their romping tirade
Her last endurance, however well played
It wans away, the moon in wax
She leaves behind her bitter tracks
But gain they must, for her stamina does fall
As their triumphant roar is heard to call
One does pounce and throws her through
A tree collects her, she collapses to
And as she lies, the forest about
The beast crawls forward, her life in doubt
But it feels fear, looks to the sky
Knowing that soon that something must die
Shaking off its question as to the noisesome sound
It turns to Aleha, ready to bound
From the canopy he drops, released from the crown
Taking the beast and forcing it down
A spear is driven through skull and through brain
And ripped roughly away so the gore may drain
He turns to Aleha who begins to scream
She wishes on his approach that this all is a dream
And standing before her, he unfurls his hand
But she rejects this offer for it was not planned
He grips her shirt slowly, revealing her wound
And Aleha does faint, believing herself doomed
She awakes but slowly to light and to pain
The world is awful, a sunny stain
Aleha yelps loudly, musical and lofty
As the wolf-beast before her speaks softly
His name is Amarouk, the alien Vadasian
But she cannot understand him in his quiet passion
His words sound so brutal, so harsh and so mean
Not like her whistling chiming, a sight unseen
They speak but can't hear, their words all a-mangle
Two languages so different, just all a jangle
But Amarouk is smart, brighter than seemed
And fashions a device so that understanding is gleamed
He knows not where he is, but knows of the danger
And so asks Aleha for help, although she's a stranger
She is uncertain, not wanting to give aide
For she wants something in return, a favor or trade
He agrees to slowly, amused by her intent
Because he understands the leaning of her bent
She isn't a warrior who can fight any of the beasts
A child of love, of kindness in all of the least
Collecting his gear and the child to his care
They move deeper still into the jungle fare
She trips and she falls, not sure of her feet
But Amarouk is patient, tutor, father, discrete
He instructs her to walk, to quiet and to still
As the monsters cannot see them without motion and frill
They see through their ears, blind in their eyes
No noise must they make or loose their disguise
Amarouk and Aleha, so slowly they tread
The day turns to night, Aleha wishes for bed
They make up their camp, a small bivouac
And Amarouk tells her that they will be hard to track
In the morning is terror, she runs once more
As the creatures return to settle the score
Hounded by day and hounded by night
Aleha and Amarouk continue their plight
Many days come and go, the two growing close
Amarouk her guardian, she a child at most
He teaches her of his home, of Vadasian lore
Aleha is astonished, always wanting more
Of his history and past, their wars and their peace
Fallen from their moon when an age of strife ceased
The great calamity split what have once been one
And two peoples arose when all was done
Vadas and Vadasian, of land and of air
Their separation from their Goddess all but unfair
Those of the land were found on the world
While the moon housed the airy lives of the unfurled
He himself was of the founded plainsmen
Although his people were at peace with their ken
He spoke of his wife, a beauteous creature
And of his two sons, one with an odeous feature
But then he grew sad, his tale slowly dying
Because his wife was long in grave lying
It hurt him deeply, his face a pained expression
Without of the love of his life he was full of depression
But though he was weary, he tried to but smile
For Aleha tried to lighten him with guile
So they moved further on, with no goal in sight
Evading the monsters as was wont of their plight
It happened quickly, the beast came up fast
The Vadasian and child would fight to the last
Aleha did scream, a melody of fear
As Amarouk had become the guardian dear
He threw his javelin, the aim but true
Crunching through skull, its flesh did spew
Rivulets and runnings, the gore was falling
Aleha found the violence appalling
Amarouk moved so quickly, enamored in armor
The beasts soon fell to this violent charmer
His pneumatic spear felled one and all
The hissing of its punch an angry thrall
Thrown and latched, it clung to their side
With gory emergence the creatures soon died
But for all his speed, he was but one against many
And soon the wolf-man fell to their enmity
Gorged through by tusk violently from behind
His bowels leaping to the ground he did find
His corded life seeping away in the sun
Eyes turned to Aleha as he told her to run
With life soon extinguished, he collapsed to the earth
Mawing jaws crunching armor in a strange kind of mirth
The slopping of gullets as his essence did purge
No one to remember, no funeral dirge
Her eyes did water, tears flowing free
The monsters consumed with a disturbing glee
Her terror was mounting knowing she would soon follow
Although in her heart was a hole, she was hollow
She remember his words, his teachings and guidance
And moved slowly away, escaping by chance
For Aleha knew if she stayed, her fate would be sealed
So hoped for her life with the hand she was dealed
Aleha did run, her pursuers were screaming
She wished once more that she were dreaming
The sky was red, the sun just peeking
And the monsters once more were out and seeking
They caught up to her as eventually they would
And the crimson-skinned girl was quiet as she could
But her fear was rising, chocking up from inside
Not for the first time she wished Amarouk hadn't died
With no means of escape and no means to defend
She looked about for anything that would lend
A hand to help and a hand to guide
She needed a plan to ensure death was denied
But she was a girl, no warrior in truth
Never been trained beyond the ideal of her youth
So she tried just this once, attempting for luck
But it soon ran out, and she found herself stuck
Fate couldn't be denied, his plan was in motion
Aleha could hear the beasts sniffing the air in commotion
Amarouk had said they they see with their ears
But he hadn't ever bet on the noses of peers
Turning to her in one, they had spied her out
And just this once the girl began to pout
It can't end like this, was his life such a waste?
That Amarouk would be killed, eaten, debased?
Her tears came once more, falling from eyes
As the beasts came once more for their singular prize
It was then that she died, poor Aleha the child
Her life was forfeit, her body defiled
A wolf-man and girl, in a jungle so deep
Where monsters roamed freely to eat and to reap
A place of mourning where the dead were lain
For the jungle consumed all, the livings bane
